Persistent groupism in Cong led to poor LS poll show in RR

Rangareddy: The below par performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Ranga Reddy district put the Congress in ‘introspective mode’ as it suffered a double blow in Chevella and Mahbubnagar segments despite an extensive campaigning buttressed by the support from the government.

Political analysts are attributing the debacle to groupism in the district leadership that is playing as a spoil spot for the party in the district. The Congress is found divided into several groups; leaders failed to leverage the opportunity to win the elections in their strongholds despite having their own party in power.

Ranga Reddy district consists of eight Assembly segments, including Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally, Chevella, LBNagar, Ibrahimpatnam, Kalwakurthy and Shadnagar.

While Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally and Chevella fall under Chevella LS segment, LB Nagar comes under Malkajigry, Ibrahimpatnam in Bhongir, Kalwakurthy falls under Nagarkurnool and Shadnagar comes under Mahbubnagar LS limits. However, all the three areas, like Kalwakurthi, Nagarkurnul and Shadnagar, were once part of erstwhile Mahbubnagar district which was later bifurcated to form Vikarabad and Nagarkurnool districts during the BRS rule.

Although Chevella and Mahbubnagar LS segments were considered as strongholds of the Congress, the GOP failed to prevent the BJP from snatching both seats despite having a strong presence in the State’s southern part. The defeat in Chevella comes as a heavy fall for the Congress as its candidate Dr. Ranjith Reddy received a mere 636,985 votes out of 16,5,575 polled. The BJP candidate Konda Vishweshwar Reddy secured 809,882 votes to get elected.

However, the setback in Mahbubnagar is somewhat a less costly affair for the party. The BJP candidate D K Aruna got elected by securing 0.4% extra votes from Congress candidate. Aruna was declared elected with a lead of 4,500 votes. She got 41.7% favour from electors, while Congress candidate Challa Vamshichand Reddy managed to get 41.3% votes.

The major chunk of votes that gave a strong mandate in favour of BJP in Chevella comes from three constituencies such as Serilingampally, Rajendranagar and Maheshwaram where the Congress leadership is said to have been living through strong groupism among leaders.

While the DCC president Chella Narsimha Reddy is leading the party, people say, the whole Congress house in the district is divided into several groups. The TPCC general secretary and Mayor Badangpet Parijatha Narsimha Reddy and Depa Bhaskar Reddy are having their own groups in Maheshwaram constituency, Serilingmpally has groups led by senior leaders like Satyam Rao, Jeripeti Jaipal, Jagdishwar Goud and TPCC general secretary Kotim Reddy Vinay Reddy.

Although Maheshwaram and Serilingampally still have a base support for the party, leadership role in Rajendranagar is fading rapidly. Many believe that want of an able and proactive leadership is driving the party into serious crisis here.

While Kasturi Narender is helming the Congress in Rajendranagar as constituency in-charge, the differences and conflict of interest among the leaders have apparently increased manyfold in recent years that make the party a completely divided house.

“An arguably fragile state of Congress leadership, especially in Rajendranagar, has led to differences among the leaders that fend people off the party. However, activating senior party leader Gyaneshwar Mudiraj, the TPCC general secretary and chairman Dairy Development Corporation, has brought hope of its revival in Rajendranagar, claim Batlu Padma Rao, councillor, Ward 7 Manikonda Municipality.

Following a numbing defeat in the Assembly elections wherein Congress candidate Kasturi Narender got a mere 82,057 votes out of a total 328,193 polled and finds himself in third position, the setback in the recent LS polls also came as a double-blow to the Congress in Rajendranagar.